Electronics Parts

Shop With Confidence

WRT21S4AW8 Westinghouse Refrigerator - Instructions

All installation instructions for WRT21S4AW8 parts

These instructions have been submitted by other PartSelect customers and can help guide you through the refrigerator repair with useful information like difficulty of repair, length of repair, tools needed, and more.

Refrigerator door gasket torn

No instructions included, so it took a little bit of staring at the new part to figure out how it works. The barbed ridge on the gasket fits into a slot on the door. The flat face of the gasket has an internal magnetic strip that helps keep the seal tight against the steel face of the refrigerator. Installation requires no tools. This is the basic process:1) Unbox the new gasket and get it ready to install so you don't have to leave the fridge open too long.2) Open the door and grab the old gasket at one of the corners and pull away. This will unseat the barbed ridge I mentioned above. Work your way around the door until the whole gasket is free.3) Set aside the old gasket4) Grab a moistened paper towel and wipe down the (now exposed) sealing surface of the fridge and door. 5) Align the new gasket in the door and start pushing the barb into place. I found that the new gasket seemed slightly oversize compared to the original, so it took a little tweaking. What worked for me was to get all the corners seated, then work my way around the door making sure the gasket is fully seated.6) Once you have the new gasket installed, close the door to make sure everything fits OK.7) Open the door again and run your finger along the inside edge of the gasket seal. What you want to do is fold the edge of the gasket down so it lays flat against the outer wall of the door. 8) Shut the door and look from the sides and top to try to spot any gaps. You should be able to poke the gasket from the side and get the magnet strips to click into place. It seems like after a day or so the gasket 'relaxed' and I didn't have to worry about this anymore.9) Dispose of the old gasket. I was able to pull the gasket into four pieces (separating at the corners) so it would fit in my city trash can...

This was the second part I tried. The defrost timer was first, but that did not fix it. To do this I had to remove the ice maker and the back plate of the freezer. Then I defrosted the coil and cut the wires. stripped them back and installed the new thermostat. re-assembled and tested. has been working great ever since.

I unplugged the refrigerator, then opened the door and removed four screws holding the plastic electrical panel to the interior top of the main refrigerator compartment and noticed the cold control was corroded badly, apparently from moisture in the panel. I ordered a new one from partselect.com. When it arrived the next day, I then pulled off the control knob, unclipped the cold control, unplugged the three wires to the control, then removed the styrofoam insulation blocks holding the thermocouple wire and then removed the thermocouple wire to complete the removal. I then reversed the process to install the new thermostat and control. That is repositioned the thermocouple wire, put the insulation blocks back to hold the wire, then replugged the three electrical wires, clipped the control back and pushed the control knob back on and finally screwed the panel back to the top of the main compartment and plugged the refrigerator electrical cord back in to provide current to the refrigerator. It immediately started up and ran fine. Total time - about 8 minutes.

Door handle broke off

First I removed the top screws, then I slide it off the lower screw that is hidden behind the handle. I replaced the handle by sliding it onto the bottem first then attaching it onto the top with the two top screws.

bottom of fridg. would not get cool. Temp was 50-60degrees. The freezer compartment worked so I knew it was not the compressor.

I removed the fan housing in the freezer section by removing all the screws. (7) There are two screws behind the vents. I did not have an ice maker to contend with so this was very easy. There is only two wires to disconnect....the ground wire and the electricity supply. Then you remove the unit from the back of the housing cover by removing two screws. Then the motor is removed from it's housing by removing 2 more screws. 1...2...3 and you're ready to reverse the procedure. I am not mechanically inclined and this was easy. Saved myself perhaps $120.00. Repair folks wanted mininum of $60.00 just to come out. Part and shipping cost me 33 bucks.OH, DON'T FORGET TO UNPLUG THE FRIDGE. :>)

This was extremely easy. Took off the control box (housing that covers the light bulb, has the temp control dial on it) and easily replaced the defrost timer. Then, emptied freezer, took off cover at the back of the freezer. Disconnected old defrost thermostat, attached new one, reattached back cover, melted accumulated ice, put stuff back in. Started up. Been running great ever since. No more ice accumulation in freezer. Temp stays constant. Great service from PartSelect, saved lots of money. This job is easy on this fridge, go for it!

Broke a blade off of the fan

When cleaning the coils on your refrigerator always remember rule number 1, unplug it first. I was cleaning the coils and hit the fan blade while it was moving with a brush, thus breaking off one of the fan blades. I ordered a new fan and installed it in about 15 minutes. Very easy repair.

Ice build up to back of freezer. Fridge way too warm for preserving food/drinks. Unplugged fridge and de-thaw freezer with a hair dryer. Removed and replaced defrost timer in the fridge area which simply unscrews and plugs in. The video supplied by PartSelect worked well for this.

The Defrost Thermostat required a bit more work as it is accessed through the freezer compartment. I had to remove two screws to get the back cover that houses the fan removed. Then you cut the wires from the old Thermostat and remove it before splicing in the new Defrost Thermostat using the supplied crimps and matching the wire colors. It is useful to have a good wire stripper/crimper ready to make the job simple (I bought a pro one for $28 at Home Depot but they can be found cheaper). Also, there is a bit of heat shrink material included to protect the wires from moisture so a heat-gun will do the trick or Good quality electricians tape will also cut it.

OK, what I really want to talk about is the really poor quality of the fan motor. This is the third time that it has failed (about once per year). Local maintenance shops do not stock the motor, hence the frozen food thaws before they can get a part. I always keep a spare motor so that I can immediately repair the fridge.

The repair is very easy - remove all racks in the freezer and then remove their slides. Then remove the screws in the back plate. Due to the ice maker, the plate will not come out, so just pull it up and tie it off. Remove the screws to remove the motor fan assembly. I did the repair with the power on, BUT BE CAREFUL if you do so. Uplug the power from the motor, and remove the assembly from the freezer. Disamble and replace the motor. Then revese the above and you're freezing again.

Unplugged fridge, removed all screws from inside freezer panel. Removed bracket, fan blade and wires from evaporator motor and swapped motor with new one. Very easy. Professional repairman wanted almost $200 to fix it. Total cost for me was $35 and 25 minutes on a Saturday afternoon. Thanks PartSelect for the quick delivery, low price and tips on the replacement.

Side-by-side .. freezer working, fridge not cooling

My freezer was frozen but my refrigerated side was not cooling, the temp was actually around 60-degrees. After inspecting i noticed no air was flowing through the vent from freezer side to fridge side. I removed everything from freezer and took the back wall panel off inside freezer section and immedietely noticed alot of ice on coils etc. After researching i found the defrost timer was not working and thus allowing frost and ice to build up on coils and block air flow. My defrost timer was located on the front bottom left behind kick panel, using a phillips screwdriver i removed 2 screws and then disconnected wire harness to the defrost timer. Then i inserted new defrost timer and connected wire harness and then put the 2 screws back in. My fridge is now working great and the ice build-up is gone and i am getting good air flow .. temps on fridge side are now between 32-34degrees. This was an easy project and saved me alot of money doing myself

door rack was broken

pulled broke rack off, snapped new one in place. Yeah!! No more broken jars on the floor.

The evaporator coil in the freezer would cake up with ice, choking off the cold air flow into the lower refridgerator compartment. A repair man had previously replaced the defrost heater element, but this did not fix the problem.

Remove the 4 Philips sheet metal screws holding the plastic housing that holds the temperature control to the top of the refrigerator compartment. Pull the housing down then out since there is a tube on the housing where the water flows out the back of the refrigerator during the defrost cycle.

Remove the 2 Philips screws holding the defrost timer on the plastic housing. Pull the connectors off the old timer and attach them in exactly the same positions on the new defrost timer.

Attach the new defrost timer to the plastic housing with the 2 screws.

Reinstall the plastic housing, making sure the water tube is inserted into the back of the refrigerator wall.